In 9th Senate District, give Kaminsky another term

Two years after Todd Kaminsky was elected to the State Senate, he has proven to be a vocal and aggressive advocate in the 9th District and beyond. He deserves another term.

The former federal prosecutor has led the fight for ethics reform in Albany in the wake of several high-profile felony convictions — including former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Kaminsky supports term limits and has sponsored legislation to strip pensions from corrupt officials, ban outside income for elected leaders, strengthen anti-bribery laws, bolster penalties for public corruption and protect taxpayer dollars by increasing oversight of local government contracting.

Kaminsky’s opponent, former Nassau County Legislator Fran Becker, believes that maintaining the status quo in the Senate would benefit residents. We are fully confident that Kaminsky would continue fighting for suburban interests in a Democratically led Senate.

Kaminsky supports a permanent state tax cap, helped pass the largest middle-class income tax cuts in 70 years this year and has regularly voted against raising taxes.

He has taken Metropolitan Transit Authority and Long Island Rail Road officials to task to improve LIRR service and infrastructure, and has pushed for the reconstruction of the Nassau Expressway.

When residents saw their New York American Water bills skyrocket this year, Kaminsky called for an investigation into the utility and held a public hearing to hold executives accountable.

He introduced legislation to decouple teacher evaluations from state test results and to expand access to high school diplomas for special-needs students, and he is looking to fix New York’s broken standardized testing system.